by Jan Anderson, editor
Tension was thick when the Boulder City Council held its regular August meeting on the 16th. Accusations of misconduct raised tempers and at one point three city officials exchanged angry words during a recess.
At the heart of the tension were two issues – criminalization of refusing to take sobriety tests and the continued employment of Steven Shapiro as city attorney.
After passage of an ordinance making it a misdemeanor to refuse to take a sobriety test (see separate article in this issue), the council turned to the city attorney contract.
Since the expiration of his most recent contract, Shapiro has continued to perform his duties as city attorney based on a state ruling that a city attorney remains on the job until he or she is replaced or a new contract is adopted.
Shapiro, the Boulder city attorney for more than 13 years, was not present at the Monday night meeting. He has more than 25 years of experience as an attorney. His most recent contract with the city expired in January.
Mayor Gary Craft told the council he negotiated a new contract with Shapiro after being instructed to do so by the council. At a subsequent budget meeting, however, the council instructed him to cut the contract amount by half, he said.
That left him with a negotiated contract the council was unwilling to fund, said the mayor. The council had not given him any other specific instructions on how to proceed, he said. He said he had spoken with Jefferson County Attorney Matt Johnson and reported that Johnson was not interested in taking on the city attorney duties under contract.
Mayor Craft presented the negotiated document to the council for action last week.
Kathy Rux, council member, said the negotiated agreement calls for $5000 per month or $60,000 per year. “For that amount of money we can have a fulltime attorney,” she said.
The proposed agreement contains the same hourly rates as the previous two-year contract, with $100 per hour for most services, $50 per hour for paralegal services, and $130 per hour for services in district court, the state Supreme Court, or the legislature. The primary difference between the existing contract and the proposal presented to the council last week is that the proposal caps the services at $5000 per month unless more hours than 50 are approved by the council or mayor.
Rux disputed Craft’s assertion that Johnson was not interested in contracting to serve the city needs. She said Jefferson County Clerk and Recorder Bonnie Ramey told her Johnson was “very interested.”
Evidence from Ramey’s email tells a somewhat different story. In an email dated August 10, Ramey told Rux she talked with a staff person in the county attorney’s office and was told the office “may be interested in providing legal services to the city. The council should contact them and get a written estimate of what services they could provide and what the approximate cost would be.”
In an interview with this newspaper shortly before the city council meeting, Johnson said he had never been officially asked by the city council to provide a proposal and could not say whether he would be willing to perform that work without more information.
Craft said many first year attorneys earn $100 per hour, but council member Fritz Bieler said a city attorney in Helena starts at $37 per hour.
“Plus benefits,” added Craft.
Bieler said the negotiated proposal calls for $50 per hour to pay for paralegal services but Helena pays $17 per hour for paralegal services.
A human services officer with the City of Helena said the lowest hourly salary currently being paid for paralegal services to the city is $21 per hour. The lowest hourly wage being paid by the City of Helena now for attorney services is $28 for a deputy city attorney.
According to the City of Helena website, a beginning city attorney is eligible for three weeks of paid vacation, paid sick leave, up to 12 weeks per year of family and medical leave, health insurance premium contribution of up to $621 per month, and retirement benefits.
As a parttime, contracted employee, Shapiro currently earns none of those benefits and none are proposed in the negotiated agreement offered.
Referring to the proposed contract, Bieler said, “I just don’t think most public attorneys are making that.”
“I’ve got a couple of parttime jobs and they don’t pay $60,000,” said Windsor Bar owner Rusty Giulio.
According to the Montana County Attorneys Association website, the City of Whitefish (population 8281) is currently searching for a city attorney and advertising that position at $70,000-$95,000 plus benefits. Hill County is seeking a fulltime deputy county attorney at $44,000-52,000 plus benefits, and Gallatin County is advertising for a deputy county attorney at $47,000 plus “excellent benefits,” says the website.
Mike Gabse read a letter to the city council signed by council member Kathy Rux, Jefferson County Commissioner Dave Kirsch and Boulder business owner Sabrina Steketee. The letter lodged allegations of lying and misrepresenting against Shapiro, referring to alleged events from May 2007 during debate of water treatment.
Gabse said he is strongly opposed to rehiring Shapiro and said past city attorneys have not earned anything close to what Shapiro is being paid.
Craft said changes in the public defender system have drastically increased the willingness of defendants convicted in justice court to appeal their case to district court. That has dramatically increased the work required of the city attorney, he said.
Rux, who has stated in past council meetings that she ran for office and was elected precisely to get rid of Shapiro, moved not to approve the contract. After a second by Bieler, the council voted unanimously to reject the contract.
Following a recess during which some heated words were exchanged by Rux, Craft and Bieler, the council directed Craft to contact Johnson to see if his office wanted to serve as the city attorney. They also directed Craft to advertise the position.
City Attorney contract debated
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Copyright The Boulder Monitor, 2010. All rights reserved.
